Audio from Larry Williams on the Buzz Williams Show...

[MKE_GoldenEagleFan]

http://espnmilwaukee.com/common/page.php?pt=av_marquettebball&id=431

[IWB]

They also have the transcript of Larry's answers.....

http://espnwisconsin.com/common/more.php?m=49&post_id=16611

[kneelb4zerg]

Dan Wolken Dan Wolken ‏@DanWolken 29m

Marquette AD ignores own school's history. Last time was in a Final Four, was in a league with Tulane, ECU and UAB http://espnwisconsin.com/common/more.php?m=49&post_id=16611 …

[warriorfan4life]

Dan Wolken Dan Wolken ‏@DanWolken 29m

Marquette AD ignores own school's history. Last time was in a Final Four, was in a league with Tulane, ECU and UAB http://espnwisconsin.com/common/more.php?m=49&post_id=16611 …

We also won a national championship as an independent, yet do not want to return to that status either. We left C-USA to separate from the NASCAR schools, and I do not blame Larry Williams for not wanting to re-unite with them. The happenstance of a Dwyane Wade type talent landing at Marquette cannot be expected no matter the league, but I personally think that it would be much easier to recruit to a hoops-only Big East featured on ESPN (and ESPN would be wise to somewhat protect their collegiate sports investments if/when football bubble pops).

[MKE_GoldenEagleFan]

Geez, LW cannot win... I will admit I'm not his biggest fan by I thought that was a good interview and I agreed with everything he said. Sure we did all that stuff in the past, but does anyone really think we should go back? I mean honestly... Larry Williams seems to have the right approach here and it appears they are talking to the right people and saying the right things at the moment. Now I can only hope he does the same with Buzz.

[kneelb4zerg]

We also won a national championship as an independent, yet do not want to return to that status either. We left C-USA to separate from the NASCAR schools, and I do not blame Larry Williams for not wanting to re-unite with them. The happenstance of a Dwyane Wade type talent landing at Marquette cannot be expected no matter the league, but I personally think that it would be much easier to recruit to a hoops-only Big East featured on ESPN (and ESPN would be wise to somewhat protect their collegiate sports investments if/when football bubble pops).

I agree, Wolken is kind of out there on this topic. Not a fair criticism of LW's comments.

[Phantom Warrior]

The statement by Wolken is one of the most idiotic remarks I have seen in a long, long time.

[TheSultan]

I am actually glad he is making some noise here. At least we know MU's position a little more clearly.

[IWB]

Zagoria now says that due to loopholes, Temple cannot stop dissolution. (http://zagsblog.com/temple/temple-can-stop-catholic-dissolution-of-big-east/)

[MU88]

I am actually glad he is making some noise here. At least we know MU's position a little more clearly.

LW is a complete idiot. He threw Tulane under the bus. He bad mouthed the A-10. We all believe what he said, but he should have kept his comments to himself. A complete lack of respect for the other schools involved. MU has now become a target for all of the BE newbies. If I were the President of MU, I would be very, very unhappy with my AD today.

[TheSultan]

LW is a complete idiot. He threw Tulane under the bus. He bad mouthed the A-10. We all believe what he said, but he should have kept his comments to himself. A complete lack of respect for the other schools involved. MU has now become a target for all of the BE newbies. If I were the President of MU, I would be very, very unhappy with my AD today.


I completely disagree....wholeheartedly. He has addressed many of the concerns that Marquette fans have had about this entire process, and stated repeatedly that he wants to keep Marquette elite. Threw Tulane under the bus? Who the f*** cares? Dissed the A10? Eh...he was speaking the truth.

[Nukem2]

I completely disagree....wholeheartedly. He has addressed many of the concerns that Marquette fans have had about this entire process, and stated repeatedly that he wants to keep Marquette elite. Threw Tulane under the bus? Who the f*** cares? Dissed the A10? Eh...he was speaking the truth.Agreed. LW is simply touting the strengths of BE's remaining non-FBS teams.

[MU88]

It has already started. Tweets from the Memphis beat reporter. Read the other schools message boards. Read the comments posted under articles quoting LW. So what if its the truth? You don't say it in public. You are a university official and you don't badmouth other schools. Completely, utterly, classless.

[MU/Panther]

I thought LW didn't say enough. I'm glad he said something about Tulane. The botttom of the A-10 is a joke. I want a man that is fighting for the best for Marquette! Keep it up Larry!

[unclejohn]

It has already started. Tweets from the Memphis beat reporter. Read the other schools message boards. Read the comments posted under articles quoting LW. So what if its the truth? You don't say it in public. You are a university official and you don't badmouth other schools. Completely, utterly, classless.

Not too concerned about what they are writing in Memphis, since so few people there can read anyway. What he said was the truth. The BE basketball schools got slammed with Tulane and they don't like it. No surprise there. While there are talks going on behind the scenes, they do not include Tulane.

Insulted the A-10? He said they had some good teams. And some teams we do not want to play. You want to play St. Bonaventure twice a year? Lovely people, those Franciscans, but upstate New York is nowhere. LW is telling the truth. The A-10 would be a step down. That is what we should be hearing from our AD, to counteract the claims like the one from somebody on the A-10 board that they will soon have the BE schools begging at their door.

Sorry if you do not like Larry, but you are wrong on this one.

[MU88]

Do you tell your wife she is fat, even though she is? Remember, you are going to share a home with her for the foreseeable future. Do you tell your younger children that the older ones are smarter and better looking, even though they are? Of course not. You do not, under any circumstances, badmouth another school who has done nothing to you. Even if it was true, the comments were tasteless and classless.

Look, I haven't been impressed with LW. Although, I haven't ripped him like some. We all know he screwed around with happy, whether deserved or not, and that upset a lot of the faithful. But, these comments were completely improper. I have been to Olean, and I prefer to never go back. Still, there is no need to slap down the A-10 or Tulane. BTW, Tulane is a great school, a better one than Marquette, if fact. To insult them a week after they join the conference is in poor taste. He should send an apology to their President and AD.

[TheSultan]

This is specifically what he said about Tulane: "I was not pleased that we issued an invitation to Tulane without any diligence to what effect that would have on our basketball product, the draw on our RPI and other such things."

I mean, it's far from a complement, but honestly if they view that as insulting, then they are over-sensitive to begin with.

[unclejohn]

Do you tell your wife she is fat, even though she is? Remember, you are going to share a home with her for the foreseeable future. Do you tell your younger children that the older ones are smarter and better looking, even though they are? Of course not. You do not, under any circumstances, badmouth another school who has done nothing to you. Even if it was true, the comments were tasteless and classless.

Look, I haven't been impressed with LW. Although, I haven't ripped him like some. We all know he screwed around with happy, whether deserved or not, and that upset a lot of the faithful. But, these comments were completely improper. I have been to Olean, and I prefer to never go back. Still, there is no need to slap down the A-10 or Tulane. BTW, Tulane is a great school, a better one than Marquette, if fact. To insult them a week after they join the conference is in poor taste. He should send an apology to their President and AD.

Yes, Tulane is a fine school. If we were putting together an academic conference, I would be thrilled to have them. But we're not. The Big East is trying to stay together as an athletic conference, and they are doing it by adding a school primarily because it has football. Not good football, just football. And that means that Marquette has to play their basketball team, which has sucked for the past decade and for most of its history. It also means we have to send the women's volleyball team to New Orleans. Great food. A fun town. Expensive airfare.

I do not think we want to get into an evaluation of the academic standing of the new members, as several of them, particularly the second-tier state schools, are none too impressive.

I have no problem at all with Larry saying that Marquette is aiming higher than the A-10. We are. And there is no question how the individual schools view each other. Nobody at SMU thinks the basketball schools are welcoming them with open arms. If we wind up in a conference long-term with SMU, I am sure we will find nice things to say about them. But that is not all that likely. As for Tulane, so what if we upset their fans? There are only a dozen of them.

[Markedman]

Vote could be imminent?

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/16971737-419/depaul-among-7-catholic-schools-set-for-big-east-exodus.html

[MKE_GoldenEagleFan]

I 100% back Larry's comments and am glad he is stepping up, regardless of how you feel he has handled other issues it appears he is leading pretty well in this situation.

[IWB]

Sure, anything could be imminent - all comes down to what they can put together that is a marketable product, both basketball-wise and football-wise.

On the Larry deal, while I do agree that you never talk down to any other school or conference, ever, it has all come to a head, so now its all or nothing. This is not a time to be nice, you have to fight for your program. On the other hand, there are ways to say things and ways to not say things.

What still bothers me is this....

The SEC & Big 10 poached from the Big XII. The Big XII was on the brink, with more schools expected to depart. Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State and Baylor were basically begging to get into the Big East. Within a very short period of time, the University Presidents banded together, fired the Commissioner, realigned and came back stronger than ever.

When it was rumored that the Big XII was going to implode, Big East invitations to Kansas, K-State, ISU & Baylor should have been extended immediately - could have forced the issue. Even if none accepted, the Big East would have shown that they are serious and a group to be reckoned with, and the Big East could still be in tact - but they did nothing.

Since that time, the Big East has been raided not once, not twice, but three times by the Big XII, ACC & Big 10. All of that, and the Big East did nothing. Not until they were on the brink of extinction and added Tulane did any presidents get up and take a stand. Why? Why did it take that long?

I don't agree with what Larry did, but it is about time everyone in the freaking conference stands up and says....

"ENOUGH! WE ARE THE BIG F'ING EAST! IT WAS REPORTED THAT OUR BASKETBALL TEAMS WILL BE INVITED TO JOIN THE A-10? WE WILL REMAIN STRONG AND CONSIDER SENDING INVITATIONS TO A-10 MEMBERS THAT WE FEEL MAY HAVE A STRONG IMPACT THE BIG EAST.

WHILE WE ARE AT IT, WE FULLY EXPECT THE BIG 10, SEC AND BIG XII TO CONTINUE EXPANDING, AND IN DOING SO, THEY WILL TAKE MORE MEMBERS FROM THE ACC. TO THOSE THAT ARE LEAVING THE BIG EAST FOR THE ACC, AND THOSE THAT HAVE LEFT THE BIG EAST FOR THE ACC IN THE PAST - WE WOULD LIKE TO EXTEND AN INVITATION TO YOU TO RETURN TO THE BIG EAST WHEN THOSE CONFERENCES ONCE AGAIN POACH PROGRAMS FROM THE ACC."

Now, will it happen? Never, but for God's sake, somebody say something!

[MKE_GoldenEagleFan]

I would have to imagine all of this going public will accelerate the process one way or another. I don't see this dragging out 6 months. Too much money and too much going on in the media and you gotta imagine its already created a huge divide between the basketball schools and any and all of the new programs coming in.

[Markedman]

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/69838/marquette-ad-no-fan-of-tulane-addition

[Alan Bykowski, "brewcity77"]

Since that time, the Big East has been raided not once, not twice, but three times by the Big XII, ACC & Big 10. All of that, and the Big East did nothing. Not until they were on the brink of extinction and added Tulane did any presidents get up and take a stand. Why? Why did it take that long?

For the basketball schools, because they had no choice before now. Until Louisville left, we didn't have enough votes to dissolve. Football was driving the bus and we just had to go along. Now we finally have a chance to do something about our situation and we're doing it. Is it too little too late? I don't think so. Maybe to salvage a football conference, but to create a basketball-centric league, the timing is just right.

[IWB]

For the basketball schools, because they had no choice before now. Until Louisville left, we didn't have enough votes to dissolve. Football was driving the bus and we just had to go along. Now we finally have a chance to do something about our situation and we're doing it. Is it too little too late? I don't think so. Maybe to salvage a football conference, but to create a basketball-centric league, the timing is just right.

I wasn't just talking about the basketball schools, I was talking about everyone in the conference in general.

[TrevorCandelino]

Putting aside past/current issues with our AD, in this particular interview, I agree with everything he said and, in fact, think there are instances where he could have gone further.

As IWB said, a line has been drawn and now is the time to fight and defend your program and your brand. Look at some of the comments being made by coaches/ADs of schools defecting from one conference to another, especially those leaving the Big East. Do those comments paint a flattering picture of the schools left behind?

One other hyopthetical.....it is quite possible that Williams was "drafted" to some degree to make these comments on behalf of the non-football schools...the East Coast schools would face more regional pressure given their direct proximity to many of the A-10 schools....

Is Nova going to come right out and bash LaSalle? Is Georgetown going to bash GW? Is St. Johns going to bash Fordham?

So Marquette's AD issues these comments and have the luxury of regional isolation yet Marquette's success and history provides the comments a similar level of weight (from a national media perspective) as if they had come from a Georgetown or Nova....

[Markedman]

All I know is for the first time it feels like we are making decisions instead of having them made for us.

It's a refreshing change.....

[dw3dw3dw3]

All I know is for the first time it feels like we are making decisions instead of having them made for us.

It's a refreshing change.....

+1, given the last 3 years of change, I don't know how anyone could be upset with Larry. If he leads us out of this mess to the top-end of what has been proposed and/or rumored, all of his past perceived slip ups should be excused as well. Maybe he's not tight with the coach or high-end donors, but these next few months are probably more important than any of that in the long term.